The Cuban revolution is one of the rare revolutions that
really practices and publicizes Internationalism. The international workbrigades are an
expression of that. Troughout the year consecutively the following brigades visit Cuba:
"Jose Marti" from the European countries, "Venceremos" from the US,
"Brigade Nordica" from the Scandinavian countries and "Antonio Maceo",
mostly existing out of children of Cubans who left Cuba.

The Dutch brigade "Jose Marti" is being
organized every year. It takes three weeks and takes place in September. The brigade takes
two weeks of work and one week vacation in one of the provinces of Cuba.

The Work

Most of the
work is being done in the agriculture. Mostly the work includes harvesting products like
oranges, pruning trees and sowing plants. The work is done in association with a number of
Cubans within the brigade. Mostly these are about fifty Cubans who get a month off from
work or study to guide approximately 250 Europeans. These are Cuban students or teachers,
who take these opportunities to test their language-skills in practice. It's also a
benefit fot the brigadists who don't speak Spanish. The guides speak English, German or
French.

Visits

On wednesdays and weekends the brigadists in
small groups visit several institutions, schools, fabrics, co÷perations, hospitals,
cultural organizations, labour-unions, youth- and womencommunities and more. Because of
these visits the brigadists get a complete picture about how Cuban socialism works in real
life. During the brigades there's also room for having discussions about several issues.
Often the complete brigade has a round table conference about a certain subject.

Habitation

The first two weeks the complete brigade stays in the
camp 'Julio Antonio Mella' (one of the founders of the first communist party of Cuba), at
a distance of 25 miles from Havana in Caimito. The camp-area is 1,25 square miles. There
are barracks to sleep in, a dining-room, a conference-room and it's possible to get
simultaneous translations. Also there's an open-air cinema, a sporting-field, a
postoffice, a shop and a bar, a laundry, an ice-bar and a big dancingfloor with a podium.

The last week the whole brigade leaves to one of the
provinces of Cuba. This is another province each year. Usual the brigade habitats a school
or institute. This last week is more like a holiday, with lots of possibilities to relax.
On saturday the work is being evaluated an production-figures are being notified. On these
gatherings one can ask all questiones about the work and about the complete three weeks as
well.

Cultural events

On saturday evening cultural events are being organized.
This can be perfmorming cuban groups of ballet, drama, music or other activities. During
the visits to Havana there's a lot of room to visit cultural activities as well.

The preperations

An important part of the workbrigade is the preparation.
The group gathers before travelling to Cuba about three or four times. The purpose of
these gatherings is to get to know eachother, because the brigades have to work
intensevily together to learn about Cuba and it's revolution. The trip to Cuba costs a lot
of money and most people will not make such a journey very often. Therefore a good
preperation is a necessity. In the preperations a lot of attention is being given to
several aspects of the Cuban community by reading books, watching films and pictures and
dialogues with people who know Cuba well and visited Cuba more than once. A good
preperation makes you understand Cuba more.

From Holland a maximum of 15 people can participate.
There's no age-restriction, but one has to be in good physical shape to perfrom hard
labour. Participants have to have a positive attitude to Cuba and it's revolution.

Costs

Each year the sum varies because of the dollar-rates and
the difference in prices of the flying companies. It's wise to account for
 1000,-